Monterey City council to look at taxes and leases

Budgets, contracts and leases — the business of running the city of Monterey — will be front and center Tuesday before the Monterey City Council.

The council will hear that key revenue sources for the city — transient occupancy taxes, sales taxes and property taxes — are rebounding.

The council also will consider spending about $570,000 on a major upgrade to the city's desktop and network computer systems, and about $400,000 for a stormwater runoff study to protect offshore areas of special biological significance.

As landlord for city property, the council will consider a request for a 10-year lease extension for the building at the entrance of Wharf 2 now occupied by the Sapporo Japanese Steakhouse and London Bridge Pub. The current lease expires in 2018.

The council also will consider changes to the city lease for the Monterey Maritime Museum and History Center to allow its name change, reduced operating hours and more flexibility in gift-shop merchandise.

A council report says the changes will be consistent with the waterfront museum's current "vision and business plan." The city and museum have been working the past three years on ways to ensure its long-term viability. The name of the facility has been changed to the Museum of Monterey.

The proposed museum lease changes "will benefit residents and visitors alike, and provide for a more attractive and desirable waterfront," a council report says.

Perhaps the best news for the council is a first-quarter financial report from Finance Director Don Rhoads.

The report says transient occupancy taxes — hotel room taxes — the most important revenue to the city — were up 5.5 percent through October, with growth throughout the city.

Room occupancy was up in July-August from 83.1 percent in 2011 to 84.6 percent this year, ranging from 77 percent occupancy downtown to 91 percent in the Cannery Row area. Overall occupancy in the slower September-October period was up 2 percent over last year, the report says.

Sales tax receipts in the city also have been strong from July through November, running almost 18 percent above 2011, the report says.

On the expense side, the report says general fund costs "are in good order so far this year."

In three months at the mid-year budget review, the report says some more general fund money should be plugged into the city's capital renewal program, which has lost money to the state in recent years, the report says.